The present application is related generally to polarimeters and, more particularly, to an image based polarimeter system and method.
Upon passing through a conical refractive crystal, a light beam is refracted into a hollow cylinder by internal conical refraction or a hollow cone by external refraction.
This conical refraction effect has been known since 1832 when William Hamilton published a series of papers regarding the theory of internal and external conical refraction and experimentally verified by Humphrey Lloyd shortly thereafter. However, the rarity of a suitable biaxial material in nature has thus far prevented the development of applications of the conical refraction effect. A newly developed material, monoclinic double tungstate (MDT), from Vision Crystal Technology AG is a promising material capable of producing internal conical refraction effect for beam shaping.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.